


to the moon and maybe back

by cryingtoast



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, sachaeng
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 17:23:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17104901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryingtoast/pseuds/cryingtoast
Summary: Chaeyoung had wished her whole life to become an astronaut, but little did she know her star was closer than she thought





	to the moon and maybe back

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for any mistakes in advance,  
> enjoy 
> 
> toast

When Chayeoung got a book about space when she turned 5, she would’t stop taking it with her wherever she was going. School, the bathroom, next to her plate during dinner. 

She was fascinated by the stars, the galaxies, the fact that earth was not the only planet, that the sun was a gigantic fire ball. That everything was created in a bang, that there could be life, in other places than earth. She asked her dad to buy her shining stars that she could stick above her bed, and he agreed. 

Now, each night, she began to dream about traveling to the stars. 

She told her mom about it, how she would reach one some day. And when her mom laughed, she got angry, and went back to her room stomping her feet. She took the biggest piece of paper she could find, and drew herself holding hands with a star. It was childish, drawn with bright yellow pencil, but her parents agreed to put it next to her shining stars. 

Around the age of 7, when her uncle told her that it was possible to go to space, her life took a whole new meaning. She would become an astronaut, and that would be her new goal in life. She took her old drawing that was still hanging on the wall, and wrote her new goal with a big red marker. 

‘GO TO SPACE, COME BACK WITH A STAR’  
\- Chaeyoung the astronaut

She fell asleep with a very satisfied smile on her face that night, and her head filled with weird planets to discover, stars to reach, a wonderful job to get. 

—

She told her two best friends about it the next week at school. Dahyun and Tzuyu listened closely to what their friend had to say, and encouraged her. They thought going to space was an interesting project ! 

They began to play as astronauts from that day on. The bench was a planet they had to stop no, but the road was difficult, meteorites kept coming their ways, aliens were attacking ! 

« Dahyun-ah ! »

« Captain chaeng, captain ! » a giggle. 

« Tzuyu-ah ! » 

« At your command, should we land now ? » 

They were using a cardboard they had found near the trashcans as a vehicle ; Chaeyoung was in the middle, a stick pointing towards the bench, Dahyun at the back, acting like she was the one taking care of the fire using the engine, Tzuyu in front, guiding them. 

Chaeyoung gasped when two older girls they knew, Jihyo and Jeongyeon, jumped on the bench. 

« Girls, aliens ! We can’t let them win the planet ! » 

In a fit of fake screams and giggles, the 5 of them began to playfully fight for the bench. 

Everything suddenly stopped when Jeongyeon pushed Chaeyoung a little to hard, leading to the younger girl falling and hitting her head on the floor. It went silent in the playground, as Chaeyoung laid emotionless on the floor. A teacher quickly came running, phone in hand. 

The first thing the girl asked when she woke up in the hospital, was about if she would have a scar of not. 

A nurse told her to come with her in front of a mirror. She pointed her fingers at Chaeyoung’s forehead. 

« See, here. It won’t turn into a big scary scar, but do you know what it reminds me of ? » Chaeyoung shook her head. « The constellation of Cassiopeia. It’s made of 5 stars, named Caph, Schedar, Gamma, Ruchbach and Segin. » 

« How do you know all of that ! » Chaeyoung asked in a a tiny and excited voice, looking at the nurse with big round eyes. The woman laughed as she ran a hand in the kid’s hair. 

« It’s a secret. Space has many, and you’ll learn all of them. Your parents told me you love stars. Were they right ? » the tiny girl nodded. « do you want me to tell you the story of Cassiopeia ? »

Chaeyoung nodded her head eagerly. And as the evening went by, comfortably sat on the bed with the nurse, the sun slowly going down, Chaeyoung knew she had chosen the perfect dream, listening closely to the tale of a queen who was placed in the sky as a punishment to having a daughter more beautiful than a sea nymph. 

—

Chaeyoung knew it would be hard to achieve her dream. Korea had no astronauts, and her only way to go to space would be to join the NASA. Which was, we all know it, difficult. 

She began to study harder when she found out about it during her second year of middle school. At the top of her class, best grades of her year, nothing could bring her down. 

She hadn’t stopped drawing either. Galaxies were her favorite things to paint. She liked to take pics of the stars with the high quality camera her grand father had bought her. She would spend her summer nights at her balcony, camera turned on and her telescope ready - it was a tiny one, but enough for her to see clearly. 

On her desk, a calendar with the moon phases, newspaper pages about the achievements of the NASA, a map of the constellations. Group pics of her friends, the first medals she won at her track competitions. 

For her last summer of middle school, her parents agreed to let her go to a sky study camp in the mountains. She would spend 2 weeks in the wild, walking during the day, doing activities and observing the sky and stars at night. She would make new friends, and do what she loves. 

In the bus, she was going to turn her music on when a girl with pinkish hair sat next to her. The girl looked worried, gripping on her bag like her life depended on it. Chaeyoung took her earbuds out. 

« Hi ! » she gave the stranger a big smile. « my name is Chaeyoung, nice to meet you. » the girl stared at her, an amused expression taking the place of the worried one.

« My name is Chaeyoung, too. But you can call me Rosé. It’s my nickname. » 

They decided to share a tent, and Chaeyoung made her first friend at the camp. 

Rosé was a very nice girl. She liked the same things as her, loved to talk about everything and anything, and Chaeyoung liked the fact that the girl accidentally spoke english from time to time. 

Chaeyoung shared her dream about wanting to become an astronaut, and Rosé had encouraged her to keep working hard for it. She promised she would come to see her leave earth if she managed to do so. 

A week went by, and it felt like they had known each other for years. Chaeyoung felt comfortable with the other girl, and the feeling was mutual. They were getting along very well with all the other teenagers and the adults who had set up the trip. 

On their last evening at the mountain, they watched E.T. on a white sheet they brought and a projector. under the clear and dark sky of the night, the soft wind and the occasional sound of birds, it really felt like an alien would come and visit them any time. 

When it ended, they were allowed to stay outside their tents : tonight would be one of the summer nights with the most shooting stars.

Chaeyoung and Rosé took their distance from the others, and decided to climb a bit more. 

When she grabbed Rosé’s hand to help her, Chaeyoung felt a tingling sensation, something new. She ignored it, and they made their way to the top of a little hill without much trouble. Above the trees, they could see the sky and the stars even better. 

They laid down on Chaeyoung’s sweater and the shorter girl sighed when her head gently hit the floor. They stayed silent, their eyes focused on the deep blue dome with tiny lighting dots above them. Chaeyoung was looking for constellations more than for shooting stars. 

She shivered when Rosé’s fingers brushed against her hand, but she accepted to hold the other’s girls hand nevertheless. Chaeyoung suddenly felt like she had left earth, as the wind began to get a bit stronger and the most beautiful shooting star she had ever seen seemed to cut the sky right in front of their eyes. 

She heard Rosé let out a tiny gasp and really, what more could she say ? 

It had been short, but still intense, new and incredibly bright. Something you didn’t expect, but were glad it happened. 

And as she looked at the stars again with her telescope a few days after she got back home, Chaeyoung wondered if this description could also be applied to her first love, to Rosé. 

—

High school began well. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu got to see Dahyun, Jeongyeon and Jihyo on a daily basis again.

Chaeyoung loved science lessons the most, she felt at ease in the labs and managed to get her teachers’ affection in no time. The track club welcomed her warmly, too. Jeongyeon had apparently told a lot about her to her sport friends, and Chaeyoung felt in her place there too. Running helped her calm down the most, after star gazing. 

However, the art rooms were where she felt the best. 

The scent of paint, people moving around, creating, the soft sound of someone coloring and the colorful mess that were the rooms was what appealed to her the most. She wasn’t officially taking the classes, but she kept coming back there when she had time and no one complained. Having the number one student in your room usually shut the teachers’ mouths. 

High school went by fast. She won countless medals for her track club, kept nailing her grades, learned English so well people began to ask her if she was bilingual. She began to save money for her trip to the USA. She was planning on getting in touch with the NASA, one way or another. 

She read about a Korean program to have an astronaut, but she was too young when it dropped. 

During her last year of high school, things began to go downhill. It was too perfect to stay that way. 

First of, her parents got separated. Difficult, and even more when her mother began to blame everything on her and her brother, ruining her confidence when she told her she would never go to space, because of how her grades had been dropping since the separation. Because she was Korean, and Koreans don’t go to space. Because it was dumb, to believe that such thing could happen. 

Tzuyu tried to console her, and so did Dahyun, but nothing worked. 

Second, an art teacher bashed her work, repeating that it showed perfectly why a science person shouldn’t draw. 

The person who took her back to the right place before she could do anything she would regret was Nayeon, a friend of Jihyo and Jeongyeon. 

She had bumped into the older girl at a party she wasn’t supposed to be at. She got scolded, of course, for the 2 empty cans of beer and the rum bottle not opened yet she was holding, wandering around the place, between people much older than her. 

Nayeon grabbed her by the arm, pulling her violently outside. 

« What’s wrong with you ?! What if Jihyo and Jeongyeon learn what you’ve been doing ? » she got no response, as Chaeyoung refused to look at her, staring only at her feet. « okay, listen, you dumbass. » a grunt. « you’re coming with me, it’s Friday, we’re going on a trip. » 

Chaeyoung looked up at her with curious eyes. 

« You heard me right. I think you need to take a break, yeah ? My place is close, we’ll get some stuff, rest and leave tomorrow morning, 7am sharp. » 

Chaeyoung couldn’t say anything as the older girl dragged her to her car. They quickly reached her place, and Chaeyoung wondered why the girl had taken her car to come to the party, she didn’t realized it was that close to it. They got up the stairs to reach the girl’s flat, and the younger girl felt at home the second she stepped inside. 

She knew the place, having crashed there countless times with Jihyo and Jeongyeon when she was bored. Nayeon had been a great addition to their little group, being the oldest, she loved taking care of the younger girls while still frustrating the older ones. Coming here meant seeing them more, since they had started college. 

Nayeon told her to go to sleep right away ; she would take care of the rest. They set an alarm for the next morning, and Chaeyoung fell asleep wondering what Nayeon really had in mind. 

—

Apparently, the older girl had opted for the truck her and Jeongyeon had bought for their camping trip last year. 

It was spacious, with comfortable seats the girls had managed to repair. Inside, a few shining stars form Chaeyoung’s room, snacks always ready, a mini fridge, anything you could need for a nice little trip. Nayeon and added a bag of clothes for the two of them, and they left the building as the sun began to go up. 

Chaeyoung settled in the back seats, her feet resting on the edge of the open window, her eyes facing the roof of the truck : they had found one with an opening, allowing her to look at the sky, with the stars slowly fading away from her sight, and the clouds gaining colors as the sun slowly went up. 

She felt herself fall drifting off again as Nayeon played their favorite calming songs playlist. the last thing she heard was her phone ringing, but she ignored it. 

Nayeon woke her up a few hours later. She wanted the younger girl to come seat next to her in the passenger seat. Chaeyoung groggily obliged, her head still a bit in the clouds. 

« Let’s chat a bit, Chaeyoung. You probably don’t really want to but it’s probably better. » the younger girl sighed. « I’m not forcing you to. I just think it could help. » she glanced at the young girl. She looked even younger, her knees pulled up against herself, her arms wrapped around her legs, eyes lost on the road. 

« There’s nothing to say. My mother is right. That teacher is right. I’m an absolute idiot. » 

Nayeon could hear the disappointment and disgust in her friend’s voice. 

« That’s not true, and you know it, Chaeyoung. You’re a very smart girl, and I have no doubt that it’ll possible for you to go to space. You’re the most hard working person I’ve ever met in my life. You’re passionate about what you do, and that is very important. » 

The other girl stayed quiet. 

« We will always be here to support you. Your mother might not show it lately, but she loves you and your brother deeply. » she heard more than she saw Chaeyoung kick the headboard. « hey, calm down ! That truck didn’t do anything to you ! » Nayeon fired with a harsh tone. 

A mumbled ‘sorry’ came out of Chaeyoung’s mouth. 

« Anyway. You’re going to turn 20 soon. Why not get you driver license ? What about getting a Moto instead of a car ? » 

Chaeyoung turned her head towards Nayeon, the glint in her eyes coming back. She slowly nodded her head at the suggestion.

« The girls and I can help you pay for it. Would it be fine if you share a bit of your money for your trip to the States ? » another nod. « you can speak, you know. » 

The girl just gave her a smile, and fell back into her closed self, leaving Nayon wondering what was going on in her head. 

The empty road was making her imagination blossom. She thought about how it looked like they were on another planet, with how dry everything was ; the trees almost all dead, the yellow grass, the sun up high. Everything was yellow, even the clouds were tainted by it. She blinked, adding space creatures she had just invented to the decor. 

Tall houses made of rocks bursting from the ground, new kind of trees with weird fruits, pets you couldn’t find on earth. 

She turned the truck into a space engine that allowed them to stay on such a different planet, making herself and Nayeon wear clothes you could only see in science-fi movies. She got a weird sensation of floating and smiled as she pictured a young alien girl running and waving at her. 

She opened the window and let her hair fly from her neck with the wind, taking in the scent of the hot spring and- she suddenly turned towards Nayeon, shattering the world she had just created when the scent of the sea hit her nose. 

Nayeon just chuckled at the girl’s shocked expression. 

« Fresh air. You deserve it, Chaeyoung. »

Nayeon parked the truck where they were allowed to, not far from the beach, and Chaeyoung jumped from her seat. She threw her shoes and socks inside, took her sweater off and ran to the sea. she tripped when her foot went too deep into the sand, but managed to not fall head first in it. As she gained speed from running, she felt like she would be able to fly, time seemingly going slower, being able to only hear the faint sound of Nayeon calling her name. 

She took bigger and bigger steps, her breath heavy, and finally, the sea. The cold water hit her feet first, before splashing her legs, wetting her shirt when a wave crashed next to her. She laughed as she fell backward, her legs and waist disappearing under the mix of sand and water, hands falling miserably to protect her eyes. 

She was crying more than laughing when Nayeon pulled her out of the water. The older girl knew it was not only because of the salt. 

She let the younger girl sit on the towel she had left a few steps away, not daring to speak, afraid of breaking whatever was going on with the short girl emotions. She settled next to her, clenching on the dry clothes she had grabbed for Chaeyoung. 

The short girl’s little sobs were covered by the sound of the wind and the sea, the birds around them, the children playing not far away but it was all Nayeon could hear. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and laid down, smiling as she heard Chaeyoung do the same. 

« You’ll find your star. » a hum. « I’ll even help you, I promise. » 

Chaeyoung lifted her arm, showing her pinky finger to Nayeon, who had opened an eye when she heard the short girl move. 

The older girl laughed, called her friend a kid but still linked her finger to her friend’s. 

Sometimes the smallest actions have the biggest meanings. 

— 

When she came back home on Sunday evening after spending the whole weekend with Nayeon, Chaeyoung didn’t expect to find 2 policemen and her mother crying in the living room. Thankfully, Nayeon was with her, and took care of the situation.

Chaeyoung watched as the older girl spoke to her mom and the cops. Once again, she felt cut off from what was happening before her eyes. Her mother ? Who had been insulting her, finding any ways she could to bring her dream down, repeating she wasn’t good enough, her mother, was crying because she thought she had run away ? 

She only took her eyes off of them when her brother came to sit beside her. She gave him a nod when he asked if everything was alright, and trailed her eyes back to the 4 other persons in the room. 

One of the cops approached her a few minutes later, and asked her if they could talk. She agreed, and they left the living room together. He looked like a nice man, in his middle 30’s, soft face features in contrast with his body, more muscular, and the gun resting against his hip. 

« I’ve heard you like space, little one ? » 

The short girl let out a little grunt. The first thing her parents would told anyone would be about her passion, apparently. Even if her mother seemed to hate her. 

« I’m not little, sir. » she looked at him with amusement. « But I do love space a lot. My mother might have spoken about it ? » she sat at the bottom of the stairs, far enough from the living room and anyone that could hear them. 

« She did. She’s very proud of you, you know ? And you’re quiet famous in town, with your good grades and all your records, Miss kick ass and go to space. » she smiled at the policeman’s words. She had always found adults boring, if it was not for her grandmother, who had passed away a few years prior. « ah, a real smile ! » 

She tried to make it disappear, but it didn’t work. She was feeling at ease with the man. It was clear that he was used to case related to children and young people. 

« I don’t actually want to ask you questions, if that’s what you were expecting. I just wanted to make sure that you were still happy, young one. Your friend might have helped a lot. » Chayeoung nodded, thinking back about the weekend she had spent with the older girl. « Alright. » he gave her a warm smile. « I think it’s time for me to go, a nd for you to sleep. I hope you’ll get those grades up, chaeyoung. »

The short girl realized what made her feel happy around that man. He reminded her of her father. 

She waited for the two policemen to leave at the entrance of the house and refused to speak to her mother afterwards. She had calls to make, friends to reassure, people to thank. 

The weekend after, she was at a driving school with Nayeon and Jihyo, who were free that Saturday to help her take care of everything. They payed for her classes, and managed to get a good Moto for their friend a few weeks later, when her training and lessons were done. 

They had thrown a little party, to celebrate the return of the grades killing and professional runner girl. And her birthday, of course.

In between, Chaeyoung had made space with her mother, who had agreed to make some effort. She even got to see her father again, and it felt like nothing bad had ever happened. On her wall, and new drawing and slogan : ‘kick ass, go to space’. 

During summer before college, her mother let her go on a little trip by herself, with her Moto, around the region. She had a small bag with her, filled with only necessities. Money, her phone, cables… a simple week trip before new worries would hit her. 

At first, she was scared of driving on the highway. But nothing bad happened her, and it actually became her favorite thing to do. She stopped by small villages, borrowing clothes, asking for water at random houses, petting nice dogs in the empty street. It really felt like summer. 

On her way back home the last day, she felt free. Until too many things happened at once. 

A pedestrian suddenly crossed the road, appearing out of nowhere, catching her off-guard. too close to stop the Moto, she turned on the right, not minding the bus that was coming from that side. She felt the engine hit her leg first, crushing it against her motorbike before her whole body flew a few meters away, the Moto following. 

Her head hit something hard, she heard screams but couldn’t make out what was happening around her, her vision blurry and almost pitch black. She felt something or someone touch her arm, and she fainted. 

—

When she opened her eyes, everything was… pink. She pushed on her elbow to have a better view, and didn’t feel any pain at all. Her eyes widened when she finally took in the environment around her. Pink people looking at her, pink houses, pink trees. A pink cat walked past her. 

She shook her head. What happened ? Did she got sent to a parallel world ? another planet ? two… aliens approached her and grabbed her by the legs. She couldn’t move them and began to yell for them to stop ; They didn’t listen to her, and only did when they arrived near a river. Her cries and complained didn’t do anything as they threw in the water.

Chaeyoung panicked : her legs were refusing to move, they felt heavy, pulling her down deep under the water. She gasped for air, only ended up swallowing water, and felt herself begin to drown. 

but everything stopped when she felt something different, more real, happen. Someone was shaking her shoulders and she finally woke up, for real, with a scream. 

White. She was in an hospital room, and screamed again when she came face to face with someone she didn’t know. The stranger quickly backed up, arms protecting herself. Chaeyoung blinked, before realizing what was really wrong. She slowly turned her head towards her legs, fearing the worst. And it happened. 

Two heavy casts, one for each leg. White too, new. Fresh. She gasped and and covered her mouth with her hand, the accident suddenly coming back in her mind. And then something else. Her right eye. She couldn’t see - panic struck again, and she thought she would seriously die right on the hospital bed before she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. 

She took a breath and looked back at the stranger that had surprised her

It was a girl, surely a bit older than her, eyes shining with worry, long blonde hair and pretty cheeks. She smiled down at her softly, before grabbing the pen and notebook that was resting on the table near her bed. 

‘Hello, my name is Sana, i’m your roommate. If we can call if that… nice to meet you’ 

Chaeyoung blinked a few times - with her sadly, only left eye - and looked up to meet the girl’s gaze, who was hiding half of her face with the notebook. The handwriting was shaky, and Chaeyoung guessed the girl, Sana, might not be Korean. 

« Hi, I’m… » her voice sounded hoarse. « Chaeyoung. » and she chocked on a sob, the emotion form the crash, the new girl without a voice, the fact that she might not be able to ever achieve her dream being too much. She felt the stranger wrap her arms around her shoulders, putting the notebook aside. 

The girl didn’t let go even when they both heard someone come into the room to check on Chaeyoung. 

—

The doctor had asked Sana to leave the room to talk alone with Chaeyoung. As soon as the girl left the room; Chaeyoung felt herself shake again. She bit down her lip, her hands clenched on the sheets as she listened to what the man had to say. 

First, her legs would take a while to heal, and it was possible that her right left would never fully be healed. She would need to sue (béquilles) and take meds in case of pain. Second, her right eye. She had apparently received a piece of glass coming form her broken helmet in the crash. and, he was sure of it, her eye would never recover. 

she stayed silent. No more space for her, that was sure. No more running. No more moto. she tried not to break down in front of the doctor and tried to listen to what he had to say about Sana. She was curious to know more.

she was right about the not Korean part ; the girl was from Japan, and only arrived a few months ago in Korea. She was there because of her chronic back pains. Really hurtful ones, that could strike anytime, and ruined her life. Like Chaeyoung, no more sport, little effort, a lot of rest and meds. He also told her about her voice. 

The girl could speak, but was suffering from a rare voice disorder called Spasmodic Dysphonia ; something that affects the voice muscles in the larynx (or voice box). Simply, Spasmodic dysphonia causes voice breaks and can give the voice a tight, strained quality. People with spasmodic dysphonia may have occasional breaks in their voice that occur once every few sentences. Usually, however, the disorder is more severe and spasms may occur on every other word, making a person's speech very difficult for others to understand. 

And that’s why the girl avoided speaking, that and the fact that she felt bad about her poor Korean. The doctor told Chaeyoung that her roommate would probably appreciate her helping her with the language. The short girl nodded. 

A nurse came in a few minutes later, with Sana and a wheelchair. The nurse asked her if she wanted to try and go around the building, in the garden maybe, but Sana stopped the nurse and wrote for her to leave. The woman looked at with surprise, before leaving like she was asked. 

Chaeyougn watched as Sana took a small bang from under her bed table. She grabbed a chair and sat next to chaeyoung, the wheelchair by her side, and emptied the bag on the bed. tons of stickers covered the sheets. oens mostly of stars , the moon, planets, but also simple smiley faces, cute animals. 

Sana quickly wrote, with a few mistakes, that she had asked the nurse about the wheelchair : it was chaeyoung’s, and would stay hers forever. So she thought, why not decorate it ? And had asked her mother and brother, who were here the day before, to buy stickers related to what she loved. To make the chair more lovely and personal. 

Chaeyoung suddenly felt better. How come someone she knew nothing about her could be so kind ? She was thankful to have Sana as her roommate. 

The stickers took them the whole afternoon to put, mainly because Chaeyoung couldn’t move easily. But also because she had decided to ask the girl about constellations. Their little stickers sticking session turned into a few hours of wonderful stories told about them, Sana trying her best to understand everything, Chaeyoung getting too into her stories, making the Japanese girl laugh. Chaeyoung drawing the constellations, and letting Sana write their names to work on her Korean. 

They eventually fell asleep without even realizing they were tired, after eating the plain meal of the hospital, and talking more about space. 

The next day, Chaeyoung met up with her family and friends. They talked about her condition, what it meant for her future. They were tears, and not from chaeyoung. The people around her all knew how much her dream meant for her. It was as hard for them as it was for the short girl, without the physical pain. 

They didn’t stay long, but Tzuyu and dahyun asked to meet Sana. They needed to know who was going to stay with their best friend. They weren’t disappointed. 

in the afternoon, Chaeyoung agreed to go with Sana to the hospital’s garden. It was wide, peaceful, and colorful, with all the flowers everywhere. They talked with everyone they met - at least chaeyoung did. They played with a child and his mother, sang with an old man and his wife near the fountain. 

As they were going back to their room, chaeyoung heard a soft voice calling her, before hearing pants and a scream. She tried to turn around, only to see Sana crouching on the floor, arms wrapped around herself, pressing on her back. Chaeyoung’s brain went into full energy mode and she shouted for someone to come help her. 

Thankfully, a doctor and 2 nurses were near, and took care of the suffering girl. They took her back to their bedroom and left Chaeyoung alone in the garden. The girl didn’t mind. It gave her some time to try and move around by herself. She hit a plant or two, but managed to roam around rather easily. 

She went back to their room at the end of the day, with snacks and a movie, found at the library. 

Sana was laying on her bed, sleeping with a pained expression, sweating a lot. Chaeyoung shook her head. The nurse gave her sleeping meds again, even if the Japanese girl had asked multiple times not to take some. She grabbed a tissue and a bottle of the table, wet the tissue with he water before slowly reaching Sana in her not useful at all wheelchair. She left the tissue on the girl’s forehead after wiping it once with a dry tissue. 

She grabbed the girl’s hand and let out a sigh of relief as the girl’s expression softened. 

She fell asleep too. 

A few days, turned into weeks, went by. The two girls were going to leave the hospital soon. chaeyoung still looked a bit bad, with her eyepatch and her casts still on ; the one for her left leg was still heavy, bur decorated with stickers, drawings and nice messages. 

Chaeyoung really liked Sana. And she knew that it was not a simple liking. The girl was lovable, incredibly smart, nice, always soft with her and everyone else, and it pained her to see her suffer from her back pains. It looked extremely painful, and she always did her best to help when it happened. 

The girl had passion, too, for everything she did. It could be simply playing a board game or trying her best to write or speak a bit in Korean, she always seemed to be truly into what she was doing. And that’s what Chaeyoung loved the most. She was, above all, supportive. Had helped Chaeyoung mentally feel better more than once. It was like she knew her better than anyone else. 

Like she had been watching over her for longe than they knew. 

One night, Chaeyoung woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. 

She gently shook Sana to wake up her, very excited.

« Sana, sana ! Tonight !! Tonight is the night with the most shooting stars !! » sana, even if she was still half asleep, shot chaeyoung her biggest smile. « let’s go in the garden ! » the smile disappeared. « come on, don’t look at me like that ! i got into a road accident and you survived all your chronic pains, we should live a little, Sana. »

The Japanese girl hesitated a bit. But as she observed Chaeyoung’s face, her bruises, the missing eye, the gigantic casts on her legs, she thought that getting scolded for leaving their room past curfew really was nothing. 

So she pushed Chayeoung as fast as she could in the corridors, thankful that the wheelchair was new and didn’t make noise. They almost got caught, but Sana had fast reflexes and a surprising strength for someone who has back pains. They reached the garden safely. 

Sana helped chaeyoung lay on the grass, and they watched the stars peacefully. 

They only saw one, though. It was a short one, nothing incredible, but it was the first time Sana had seen a shooting star in her life. She got closer to Chaeyoung, and managed to make a full sentence without having problems to tell that to Chaeyoung.

The younger girl had turned her head so quickly, San thought the girl was going to hurt her neck. Chaeyoung squeezed her left eye shut and grabbed the Japanese girl’s hands. 

« You know what, Sana ? » she opened her eye. « It’s also my first time seeing a real one. » Sana looked at her with a curious face. « and it’s you. You’re the real star here. » 

This left Sana speechless, and Chaeyoung, as red as a tomato. An anxious mess, too. She was afraid Sana would think it was weird, or not understand at all that it was her way of confessing. But as she felt soft hands grab her face and plump lips crash on her owns, she knew everything would be okay. 

Nayeon was right. She found her star. 

—

Cause the stars are dull when they're compared to you and I  
And if people don't like it then they can close their eyes  
'Cause we're not the same and we don't have to try  
We're brighter than fireflies, we're gonna light the sky

— Light the Sky, Grace VanderWaal

**Author's Note:**

> twitter @ is chaengtoast


End file.
